I like to believe that one of the
things our group has is vision. You have to think long term. If you are out
there and still reading this, then obviously you have some good things going
for you. It is either A) the madness hasn’t reached you yet or B) you still
have power and an internet connection. You have to think long term. I don’t
think anyone of us would still be here if we weren’t doing all the proper
planning to survive. But there is a terrible realization that could threaten to
consume the morale of our group and I hope that you recognize it for you and
yours.
See, before all this went down, I
played the lottery a lot. I wasn’t sick about it. I knew you only needed one
set of numbers to win. So, I would buy one line of numbers for Wednesday and one
line of numbers of Saturday. I might buy more if the jackpot was over $200
Million or some crazy amount. And then I would spend the day fantasizing about what
I would do with the money. Of course the new house and new car was always tops
on the list. I always said I would start my own photography studio where I
would work as a Photoshop artist. But if the money was stupid dumb, I would buy
some stupid dumb stuff that I could never afford in real life. For example, I
would have a custom made, full scale replica of the Tumbler from Batman Begins. Why, you ask? So I have
something to drive to my local convenience store to get chicken. I would buy a
full set of Darth Vader and an entire legion of Clone Trooper armor to use to
decorate my house… Things like that.
So I would kick up all these dreams
but then on Thursday or Sunday, I would not rush to the office to have Janet or
Nolan check my ticket. Because as long as I didn’t check my ticket, there was a
chance I was still a winner. And as long as I knew I had not not won, I could
still fantasize. (Yes, I am aware that news would have broken about the winning
ticket being sold in Langley but it was my fantasy.) Let me get to the point.
Since Group 2 arrived, I’ve spent
that time reconnecting with my fellow Adair Warrior Jenny Deffenbaugh. She told
me that when Zero Hour hit, her three kids were in class at Adair Elementary
which is about fifteen minutes away from Langley. She had dropped them off and
made her way into work. Her parents live just outside of Adair and she is
confident that her father and mother and her three kids are all safely
barricaded inside the family house with their four dogs. Jenny’s dad is one of
those right wingers like my father-in-law who had a healthy collection of guns,
a fenced yard, a small garden that they all worked in on Saturdays, one of the
few two story houses in Adair, one of those massive 4x4 pickups… It is possible
that they have survived.
And just like not checking the lottery
ticket in my wallet, she has no reason to not believe that her kids are safe
and barricade inside living off Grandma’s canned peaches, green beans, and
sugar snap peas.
Until we send a search party to Adair,
there is no evidence that her scenario has not occurred. I don’t want someone
to urinate on me and call it rain but I see no need to rain on her parade
either. How does any of us know she is wrong?
The death of Audrey has set back our sortie plans but it is only a
matter of time before we get out and explore. So what happens to Jen when she
realizes that her fantasy is not reality? That is what I am worried about…
